How do you make interesting abilities?

[Galve 0]

Hello community, Galve here,

 

I was wondering how some of you decide on abilities for classes to make them interesting in combat. Since combat takes almost 1/3  of the time in a typical RPG, I believe it should be rewarding and interesting. In some RPG's, especially the ones with random turn-based encounters, I found that some players want to skip combat entirely. However, the combat system is another forum post.

 

 

For now, I would like to know how you make interesting abilities in a turn-based or time-based battle system. Here are some questions to consider:

 

• What are the thoughts that go into balancing abilities against each other?
• How do you go about determining resource cost? (mana, MP, whatever)
• How do you make an ability that won't be replaced by a more powerful ability?
• How do you decide which abilities a class gets so that it feels like a class.
• What are the thoughts you have about synergy between abilities?

 

I have an example of a mage-style ability set that I am working on and it looks like this:

 

Starting Spell ==> Follow Up Spell ==> Hard Hitter Spell==> Recovery Spell

 

Starting Spell: Conflagrate

This is a cheap spell with modest damage. It gives the enemy a powerful burn-style debuff that burns through their health. It also raises the target's agility. So when you cast this spell on a monster or player, they take damage and recieve a burning debuff and a boost to their agility. The player wants to cast this mostly for the burn debuff.

 

Follow Up Spell: Smolder

It grants a strength buff to the target. It does damage and it lowers the target's magic defense (spirit). The player wants to cast this for the spirit debuff.

 

Hard Hitter Spell: Fire Storm

This spell does massive damage costs a lot of mana and removes a magic defense (spirit) debuff. The player wants to cast this for the damage.

 

Recovery Spell: Cinderspark

This spell recovers the caster's mana, removes a strength buff and an agility buff on a target, and removes a burn debuff on the target. The player wants to cast this to recover mana.

 

 

Each of these spells can be cast independently, but they are designed in such a way that the player will want to use them all at some point. The idea behind this ability set is that the mage character can do a lot of damage by delaying Cinderspark as the burn debuff is quite powerful, but they will quickly run out of mana using the other spells. Additionally, if they have another method of recovering mana, they can do extreme amounts of damage but the monster's strength and agility will be substantially buffed the entire time.

 

 

I would like to know what you guys can come up with and any ideas you might have for interesting combat abilities.

What do you all think about my example above? Go ahead and share some of your favorite mechanics from other games as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[Spectre 829]

Well, for myself, I make each character's combat style unique in that they have their own skill styles, so to speak.

In any case, here are my two cents on the issue:

 

 

• How do you go about determining resource cost? (mana, MP, whatever)
• How do you make an ability that won't be replaced by a more powerful ability?
• How do you decide which abilities a class gets so that it feels like a class.
• What are the thoughts you have about synergy between abilities?

 

1.

Rather than just using MP or AP, try more interesting things such as a variable that stores "charges", ammunition, cash, or even items. Moreover, focus on how rapidly the abilities drain up your primary resource.

In my game, my Engineer class favors short engagements where she can burst down a target in a single turn; expect her to drain up to ~30-35% MP per turn.

On the other hand, my Alchemist class usually carries up to 5 of each reagent which she can mix into potions, but her reagents can be replenished at the expense of one turn.

Consider what role your character plays and how rapidly you want them to deplete their resources to use abilities.

 

2.

It's actually quite simple. Give each ability some tangible utility even in the late game.

My Elementalist, for instance, uses both single-target cheap skills and large AOE skills.

To prevent the player from spamming AOE skills, I simply slap longer cooldowns and higher MP costs on them. Simultaneously, I create an incentive to use the cheaper skills by giving them potent effects that can be combo-ed with other skills, on top of short cooldowns.

 

3.

In my game, I focus heavily on specialization for each class - each one not only has a personality (the Alchemist uses potions for skills, the Cabalist, dark energy etc.) but also a play style.

In the aforementioned example, the Alchemist can rapidly change the reagents in her potions within her turn to make clutch plays and rapidly transition from a healer to a buffer to a mage dps. My Engineer, however, is more rigid. She focuses solely on burst damage, and her combo spells allow her to cast up to 4-5 spells in a single turn to burst down enemy targets at the expense of a heavy MP cost.

 

Consider what each class' roles are in your game, and how much effort is spent into specialization. My game is a bit on the overly specialized end of the spectrum where each class has a fixed function; compare this to FFXIII, for example, where you can readily switch classes in-battle.

 

4.

Go for it. It makes your cheaper abilities more viable, and your stronger ones more potent.

 

Let's say my Elementalist uses a Fireball. It will apply a burn debuff on enemies that deals damage over time and weakens magic attack.

However, using it on a Frozen enemy deals increased damage, does not burn, but Drenches the enemy instead as the ice melts, making them more vulnerable to lightning based attacks.

In contrast, using it on a Paralyzed or Wounded enemy increases the damage the burn debuff deals.

 

I like your idea of follow-up spells; this means that you can greatly vary the outcome of the battle simply by using two spells in a different order.

In fact, if possible, allow for a high degree of customization between your abilities to further improve strategic depth.

[GuyYouMetOnline 0]

As I can't really do much of anything in the way of scripting, I'm limited to what I can do just in the database, which kind of makes it difficult to work in combos and such. That being said, there's plenty I can do with states and events to give each character a different style in battle. It helps that I'm making a Touhou RPG; the characters in that series all have their own specific abilities, so I can theme their skills around those abilities. Many characters fit naturally in normal roles (tank, healer, buffer, magic attacker, etc.), but others are well-suited to more unusual styles. For example, the one who can change people's size I'm giving unique buff skills; she can buff ATK and DEF at the expense of evasion (representing making the target larger), or lower ATK and DEF but raise evasion (making the target smaller). Then there's the shapeshifter, who's based entirely around states representing various forms; her stats are universally mediocre, but each transformation has its own stat modifiers, and some forms also enable the use of certain skills. Not a unique concept by any means, but definitely not nearly as common as the more basic roles.

 

Then there's a somewhat odd character whose ability is stated as 'manipulation of the subconscious'. What that actually means is largely open to interpretation, but it is known that she can prevent people from seeing her (more accurately, they still see her, but her ability allows her to prevent them from noticing her). That's easily replicated in battle by simply giving her high evasion and a low chance of being targeted (balanced by her being fragile). As for her skills, they're consistent with the one official series game in which she's playable, which is to say highly unpredictable, with, for example, moves that hit a random number of times, moves that have random additional effects, and moves that don't actually take effect until a random number of turns after they're used.

 

I'm working on finding other characters I can give interesting skillsets to (I currently have six decided on, and intend to add a minimum of two more), so I may have some more unconventional skillsets in the future.

Edited March 7, 2014 by GuyYouMetOnline